Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland

A photographic guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland – First Impressions

Steven Falk, Gail Ashton, Rory Dimond & Peter Creed foreword by Erica McAlister

piscespublications (pbk) published 2026.

410 pages, +1500 photographs, illustrations, and distribution maps

ISBN 978-1-913994-16-7

A couple of weeks ago a book arrived through my letterbox that I had ordered last year. I don’t normally pre-order books, I normally await their publication before purchase, tending to buy it a couple of weeks or months later. But I knew I wanted this book and the reduced pre-order price was certainly an offer I couldn’t refuse.

When I unboxed it I thought I have seen this book before, it felt and looked familiar. I only had to look across to my bookshelves to see on the third shelf down Insects of Britain & Ireland by Paul D.Brock (2015). This is a super insect book but like most things I always felt there was more to flies that just the 100 pages that were dedicated to it. Don’t get me wrong it’s a comprehensive book full of great photographs with bees, dragonflies, moths and of course hoverflies but I have other more comprehensive books dedicated to those subject matters, so portions of the book were rarely used.

When I heard that there was going to be a book dedicated to flies, I just couldn’t wait for it to drop through my letter box.

Well, was the wait worth it?

Was the content what I expected or letdown as built-up hype often turns into? – for example, some Hollywood films. I had been following the production of this book more than any other…..

HoverflySpotter Feb 26 Sightings - Hotspot Found

HoverflySpotter sightings - hotspot found

Last week after going to see H is for Hawk at the local independent cinema, a film I highly recommend, I passed a Cherry Plum (Prunus cerusifera), a tree in full blossom. The sun was out and it was a warm day, surely, I couldn’t fail not to see a hoverfly, could I?

If I did spot a hoverfly it would be the first of the year.

There was nothing special about this Cherry Plum, its location was next to a busy through road. It was the start of the Trans Pennine Trail out of Barnsley and there were a few houses around. I had up to this point, over several days, scouted most of my local area for trees in blossom and have since found other Blackthorns and Cherry Plum trees in the vicinity but no hoverflies were to be spotted.

So did I succeed with this one tree…..

From Ruins to Roofs: The World of Mosses

Wall Mosses at Monk Bretton Priory

For me, before hoverflies there were bryophytes, as it was in evolutionary history. Bryophytes are a group of plants including mosses, liverworts and hornwort which have been on planet earth for half a billion years, evolving from aquatic algal ancestors. One of the earliest diverging lineages of extant land plants.

I got into bryophytes whilst studying at university, a project on a field course and I have been fascinated with them ever since. The surprise and wonder that first captivated me was that these tiny plants, of which there are 1000 plus in the UK and over 24,000 in the world, show so much diversity that is not obvious with a glance. These tiny flowerless plants helped shaped the existence of life on earth and could do so in the future with the colonisation of Mars, more about this later. They are as fascinating and wondrous as any other living organism if one takes the time to look. 

This article is about wall mosses; any wall will do it doesn’t have to be a wall on an English Heritage site such as a priory, but I couldn’t bring a group of Barnsley Naturalists to a wall outside my house or someone else’s garden, so this became a wonderful setting for a field meet. 

HoverflySpotter Sightings W/C 28th Feb 26

Birds, Vampires and ‘Catkins – Servicing the Bees’

It’s been a while since I wrote a sightings log – meteorological winter has ended - not that we had much snow in my part of the world just wet horrible rain failing day after day and grey overcast skies. The Winter Olympics has been on which I loved watching, I got engrossed in the snowboarding events and I reckon I could now commentate on curling having seen that much of it. But it has now finished, there were some terrific competitions and several GB medals to show which was nice. I did enjoy the whole occasion, first time in 20 years it's been in my time zone, which allowed me to watch more than I normally would. It even inspired me to produce a fun article about hoverflies at the Olympics, which seemed to have been well received and enjoyable to create. If you haven’t seen that post, please do click on the link – Hoverflies at the Olympics 🥌.

The last few days there has been some actual sun, and the temperatures have started to hit mid-teens, so I was hopeful of catching a hibernating hoverfly awakening from its sleep. I have been out and enjoying the spring flowers as they emerge. First there were Snowdrops then Dog’s Mercury followed by Crocuses, Helleborine, Daffodils, and Lesser Celandine and who does not love a Dandelion. I call them ‘Dandy – lee – on’ making them sound a little more exotic, not that they need that, but they are a much under-appreciated flower often considered a weed, yet the bees love them and so too do the early emerging hoverflies. But unfortunately, the only emerging insects I have spotted are the 7-spotted ladybirds, 2 Brimstone and a Peacock butterfly. I am sure by the end of the week I will have found one, so watch this space.

A Festival of Amateur Natural History

S.Yorkshire Natural History Day 

Thought of the week is slightly different this week because on Saturday 21st February it was the 15th South Yorkshire Natural History Day at Treeton Miners Welfare near Sheffield. This is an annual event open to all members of the Sorby society and anyone else who wishes to come along, an event where amateur naturalists convene from across the county and beyond to share and listen to talks about Natural History.

I took a little display promoting my blogger site and had a fabulous day talking to other naturalists who have a similar passion for hoverflies, who knew there were so many. Of course, the current president is a hoverfly enthusiast himself, Derek Whiteley.

Anyway, here are some thoughts and sound bites I took from this conference. Apologies in advance if I have mis-quoted any of the speakers, these are just my takeaway thoughts, ideas, questions, and important points. Some of these relate to thoughts about hoverflies and some don’t.